Investigating the effect of sensory properties of black plum peel marmalade on consumers acceptance by Discriminant Analysis

One of the goals of producing and developing new products is to provide desirable features to the target community, followed by promoting marketability and gaining more market share in similar products basket. In this study, in order to investigate the effect of sensory characteristics of black plum marmalade on its acceptance, sample data with 180 observations and discriminant analysis method were used. The sensory properties that were evaluated in this product included color, flavor, firmness, adhesiveness and spreadability. Discriminant analysis classified 89% of observations correctly in the acceptance and non-acceptance classes. Accordingly, the characteristics of color, consistency, flavor, hardness and spreadability had a positive and significant effect on the acceptance of the product by the respondents and adhesiveness had a negative and significant effect on the acceptance of the product. Also, based on these results, the largest contribution in discriminating the acceptance and non-acceptance of this product is related to the spreadability, flavor and hardness, respectively. Therefore, in order to attract customers and market effectiveness, it is suggested to pay special attention to these characteristics in the production of black plum marmalade.